4 signs of a disconnected company – and how to fix it.
There are many reasons why businesses do not grow, and generally, one size generally doesn’t fit all.
But with marketing communications being our passion, we find that using our knowledge and experience helps lift the lid on exactly why you’re not growing your customer base, profit, or strengthening how you’re running your business. We can quickly identify the sticking points and help you get clarity and focus.
The strength of your business is driven by how well you and your team communicate and deliver on your brand and key messages – internally and externally.
But, if your business isn’t growing as it did, should be or not fulfilling its potential or mission, that’s usually because, somewhere, there is a disconnect…
Marketing comms does not only have the power to differentiate you so you can connect with your people in powerful conversations that create deeper, more meaningful relationships, when done properly. But it also identifies where you’re disconnected from what you do, what people think you do, and how you do it.
All of these are clear indicators of what needs to be worked on, in order for you to grow your business.
Companies that work across multiple industries or regions are particularly susceptible to brand alignment problems.
We all need to communicate better and invest more in internal marketing to educate those around us. If we can do this, the impact of marketing and the value marketers bring to every business will be clearer. – CIM Impact of Marketing report
When your business strategy isn’t connected with marketing communications, it generally means that your marketing communications are not connected with customers, colleagues are not connecting customers with the right experience. Your working practices are not connecting with the type of business you are or want to be.
Basically, what you say you do and how you do it is not connecting with what you’re actually doing.
And it’s because of this disconnect, you’re spending more of your time in the business than leading the business; creating, developing, editing, building relationships, checking in on your team. Which is causing inefficiencies, taking more time, costing more money, causing confusion and giving you more stress.
Plus, who wouldn’t want a brilliant company culture that reflects their mission to attract better, more aligned talent and, more importantly, retain that talent who will see your success – which saves you time and money.
Where can you look for gaps?
Disconnect 1. Are your clients/customers confused about what you do and how?
One sure sign your comms is out of alignment is when your people tell you they are confused. Clients/customers who haven’t worked with you before rely on your website, marketing comms and sales team (if you have one) to understand your business.
If you’re not delivering clear and consistent messages from where you may attract them, to them ending their experience with you, you will not instil confidence in your brand. Instead, they will move on to a competitor or not feel like they need your product or service… You need to be super clear about what you do, why you do it and how.
For example – When you started the business, you wanted to make a real change for busy mums.
They are busy, tired, and constantly multitasking, and you want to be a force for change. But now, as your team have got bigger, you’ve got busier, and you’re focusing more on growth (which you should), you’ve unintentionally stopped listening to them as to how you can really help them. Your communications are not aligning with a genuine intent to help them get likes and act as clickbait, which is now not getting you as much attention as it once was.
Also, you’ve started to focus on a product or service that has moved away from your why – which maybe because that was where the appetite was, or that was where the potential growth was.
Solution – Build more clarity by redefining your business mission and values in the form of a one-page message house that should be used as a base for all communications and marketing to your customers and clients. Regardless of the purpose of the message, the connection point for why you’re doing what your doing should always come from the same place. Then look at your products and services, make sure you know where and how the profit comes in and plug that gap.
Disconnect 2 – Do your team describe your company differently?
Another sign that you’re not growing in line with your potential is when team members talk about the business to potential and current clients or customers in very different ways. This means that they cannot create the customer experience you’re aiming for, and they won’t be able to act as advocates for your brand or business to others.
For example – You help busy mums save time and feel good, but actually, people around you think you just make healthy snacks, and you’re a tyrant for growth and sales. That is because you’re colleagues are up against deadlines and targets, and there isn’t a lot of other time to build a team of trust, fun that completely aligns with what you’re trying to achieve and why.
Solution – Share your message house with your staff and hold workshops that help your colleagues understand it more and co-create ways of integrating it into your customer experience.
Remember, your colleagues create your customer experience and are your best advocates. And if they are not fully onboard – your customer experience goes down, productivity and happiness goes down – you’re likely to spend more time and money on recruitment and onboarding. Don’t forget them!
Given the impact on business performance, bringing greater alignment is a clear way for you to boost your bottom line. And any changes made are likely to be a great investment!
Disconnect 3 – Do you struggle to differentiate your business to the wider world?
The key to marketing success that impacts growth is its ability to differentiate itself in the marketplace. It’s your unique selling point (USP). It may be that your target market is fluid, and although they may not be in the sphere of requiring your service now, it’s important that they are aware of you when they are, or can signpost others. Or, it’s essential from a reputational and regulatory point that you have external stakeholders that you keep onboard.
Imagine if you or your team forgot to mention the type of technology they use or what experience you have? Or what if your new marketing director went into your website and edited out important keywords related to your differentiators. Scenarios like these are more common than you’d think.
Without a strong message house for you and your team to lean on, it’s easy to forget or mishandle key messages that differentiate your company. If you and your team aren’t actively thinking and talking about your USP, it’s another sign that your people aren’t aligned.
Solution – Do your research, find out exactly what your customer’s needs are alongside what your competitors offer, and where the marketplace is headed. Using this information, you should be able to map out where your strengths can lie into unique points to grow your business.
Disconnect 4 – The way you work as a business is not aligned with your mission, values, and generally how you need the business to run.
What happens inside will always get outside. If you don’t invest in your culture, or provide working practices that support your mission, you won’t grow in the right way. If you’re a company that’s set up to save customers time, and make the service easy for them – is that how your system works? Do you want to make a bigger impact in society for a specific cause? If so, are you supporting employees to support that with the right policies and ways of working? All these disconnects, cause tension in culture, and also stops people from working in the best way.
For example – You provide a service to busy mums that enhance their well-being, save them time, money – and also – help them feel good.
However, you’re now finding yourself catering for them in a slightly different way – you provide more training, you are over-communicating to them on social media (which wastes more time in your expectation that they will engage with more content for content sake)
But that’s not all – your colleagues, who are generally women, are overworked because the team haven’t got around to filling vacancies, their wellbeing isn’t being looked after, and you have no wellbeing policies in place. The culture internally doesn’t lend itself to feeling good.
Your systems are cumbersome because they take too much time, and there is a need to invest more in technology to save time, money and effort by all. All of this will not only have a negative impact on customer experience, your closest advocates, being your colleagues, are not able to testify for you.
Solution – Do a deep dive. Look at your mission and values, and then brainstorm how that should look from both a culture and process perspective.
Few things will spoil your differentiation faster than poor alignment.
So, do your customers, people, and the wider community know what you do and how you do it?
If the answer is maybe then you can’t…
– Grow your customers and reputation
– Build deeper retention
– Relay a powerful communications experience
For 3 more fixes, a research exercise and to find out what our 6 C’s solution is, head over to our Business Toolkit and sign up to access the free workbook called: How to align your comms and brand.
